SYRACUSE, N.Y. - You may have eaten a garbage plate, the awe-inspiring concoction of home fries and macaroni salad, topped with burgers or hot dogs and slathered with meat sauce and chopped onions, that’s something of a cult favorite around Rochester.

But what about a farm-to-table garbage plate made with local ingredients? That’s the novel concept The Brine Well Eatery is bringing to downtown Syracuse.

Owner Devon Hubbard, 31, has worked with food for much of his life—most recently running a Chipotle Mexican Grill location as a restaurateur. But the Cicero-North Syracuse grad has spent time in Rochester and wanted to bring a taste back to Syracuse.

“I decided I wanted to follow my dream,” Hubbard said.

He hired chef Sarah Hassler, whose resume includes stops leading the kitchens at The Stoop and Peppino’s Neapolitan, as a consultant. Together, they built a menu that’s built around a variety of plates. The Rochester plate is the classic, but then there’s the Syracuse plate, a combination of smashed salt potatoes and baked beans, topped with Hofmann hot dogs, pickles, honey mustard and homemade bacon jam, paired with a cold Byrne Dairy chocolate milk.

There’s also the Buffalo plate, with macaroni and cheese and Buffalo chicken tenders; the vegan Ithaca plate, the Tex-Mex-style San Antonio plate and the Memphis plate, which starts with sweet potato fries, topped with pulled pork, onion rings, coleslaw, cheddar cheese and maple bourbon barbecue sauce.

The plates will average around $10 to $15.

For a restaurant specializing a dish that typically includes several types of meat, often consumed before or after a few drinks, it may be surprising that The Brine Well can make every plate vegetarian or vegan, with plant-based burgers and sausages, as well as a vegan version of the finely-textured meat sauce made with Beyond Meat beef alternative.

Hassler said crafting a menu inclusive of dietary restrictions—much of the menu is gluten-free and the restaurant will have separate fryers and griddles for gluten-free and vegan foods—was important.

“We want everyone to be able to eat here,” she said.

For breakfast, the restaurant will serve a rotating selection of coffee from local roasters like Salt City Coffee, Recess Coffee, Peaks Coffee Co. and Death Wish Coffee Company and a variety of sandwiches, including O-Rock’s Waffle Taco, an egg, bacon and potato-filled waffle sandwich topped with real maple syrup that’s named after one of Hubbard’s former bandmates.

Using co-ops from around Central New York, Finger Lakes and North Country, the restaurant will tap into a network of more than 70 local farms to source its ingredients.

“The menu is around 70 percent local, but I want to push that envelope,” Hubbard said.

“Everyone we’re supporting in the back you can purchase in the front,” Hassler said.

All the packaging at the restaurant will be compostable and Hubbard said he plans to launch a zero-waste takeout system in which customers purchase reusable containers for takeout meals. When the customer returns to the restaurant with their container, they’ll receive their takeout meal at a discount in a different, clean container.

As for the name of the restaurant, Hubbard said he was inspired by Syracuse’s “Salt City” moniker based on the city’s once-thriving salt industry, but wanted his own twist. So he took the name from the wells where miners would pump the saline brine and harvest the dissolved salt.

Tentative hours for the restaurant are from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, though Hubbard left the option open to stay open until midnight on Friday and Saturday nights to serve the downtown nightlife crowd, as well as what they expect to be a thriving takeout and delivery business. The restaurant will even have a special alcove for waiting GrubHub, Uber Eats and other delivery drivers.

It’s all part of their plan to produce food with an emphasis on high-quality, local ingredients that is easily accessible and approachable.

“This is bringing farm-to-table to the masses," Hassler said. “It’s all part of moving Syracuse forward.”

Jacob Pucci finds the best in food, dining and culture across Upstate New York. Contact him at (315) 282-8611, or byEmail.Follow @JacobPucci